Lee County makes the grade

Lee County has been known for having a very strong school system but teachers say the expectations are sometimes too high.

For the past six years, all seven Lee County schools have made Adequate Yearly Progress.

"Our kids and our teachers â" they're used to winning. They're used to getting it done now that's not to say that we don't have our worries, I mean we do we have a lot of worries specially with some of our subgroups, but they did very, very well. Some of our subgroups increased by 10 percentage points and that's just outstanding," said High School Principal Kevin Dowling.

Lee County's graduation rate has also improved this year to 80.6 percent, that's higher than the state average. Superintendent Dr. Larry Walters says sometimes when you win, you lose.

"So many of the resources go to systems who are not performing at that level or do not have the socioeconomic level that we have here in Lee County, so actually in some regards there's a disincentive which, we don't like that," said Walters.

Lee County's student growth rate has been steady at 3.5 percent for the past several years, though they do expect that number to be lower this year due to the economy. But that averages out to 150 students each year, and in 5 years they would need a new school. The school system is the number one employer in the county with a payroll of $3.5 million per month.